


this act of translation

by crookedspoon



Series: Thirty-Three Love Poems, Odds, and Ends [5]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Community: femslash100, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 18:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2516846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/crookedspoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nyssa can find comfort only in a kill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this act of translation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AerisaHale (KarasuKyra)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarasuKyra/gifts).



> Written for the prompts "Arrow: Nyssa/Felicity - books" at femslash100's drabbletag 5 and "Remembrance" at genprompt-bingo Round 4.
> 
> Spoilers for s3. Totally outdated though, so consider this AU. Title taken from Adrienne Rich's poem "Twenty-One Love Poems: V."

Nyssa's deadly calm spooks Felicity a little. She's seen the other woman cycle through her grief like someone possessed, like someone flipping pages for a passage that would bring meaning back into their life. If one tome doesn't contain it, throw it aside and try the next. No known algorithm could help with that search.

Nyssa has tried the different moods: she has accused Felicity of hiding Sara somewhere, threatened to kill her unless she told the truth, and finally broken down sobbing into Felicity's arms.

Felicity could do no more than hold on to Nyssa, trying not to let her own grief shatter herself as well. Yet the pain was stronger. When Nyssa caressed her cheek, she was surprised to find wetness there. The effort of keeping herself together during daylight hours had weakened her defenses.

She woke to a bed as empty as her heart, and her mood plummeted further at finding herself alone again. Slipping from the sheets, she picked her clothes off the floor, a guilty sting in her heart. In seeking comfort with Nyssa, she felt like she betrayed Sara somehow.

She didn't expect to find Nyssa on her balcony, overlooking Starling City as though trying to spot the man she has vowed to kill. Nyssa exudes cool determination, unburdened by the emotional turmoil Felicity still feels – unashamed of what they've done.

"You are going to help me find him," she says earnestly, and Felicity dares not argue that it could have been a she.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [write my name again (it's always a devil's bargain/remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4255869) by [Teaotter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teaotter/pseuds/Teaotter)




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